Category Archives: Arts and Lettuce

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Wednesday’s items column begins with one about the band Van Halen. After that come some bite-sized items from Chino and Chino Hills, an item about the Claremont Folk Festival and one about the next Pacific Standard Time series of art shows, some of which will take place out here.

Tuesday night there was a free screening at Pomona College of the documentary “20 Feet From Stardom” that was attended by four of the featured performers from the movie: Claudia Lennear of Pomona and Julia, Maxine and Oren Waters.

Lennear, who was spotlighted in my column in March, sang background vocals on Ike and Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” and Stephen Stills’ “Love the One You’re With,” among many others, while the Waters clan sang on the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” Donna Summers’ “Bad Girls,” Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” the theme song for TV’s “Growing Pains” and the Disney movie “The Lion King.”

The room was packed for the movie and the Q&A afterward. The first guy’s question went something like this: “With the news this week about Donald Sterling” — and suddenly the four singers, all African-American, sat up straight, and the rest of us tensed for what promised to be a series of provocative, of-the-moment answers — “what are your thoughts about Phil Spector?”

Uh, what? The questions didn’t improve, with one man asking which song of theirs they would send into space “on a spaceship” for aliens, another asking which single performer from their past they would have worked with if they could only have worked with one. Another directed a rambling statement/question at their accompanist, guitarist Caleb Quaye, who wasn’t in the movie.

(Making things worse, Quaye talked at great length, as if he were 19 feet from stardom. You’ll be pleased to learn that he was saved in 1982 and that he hopes Elton John one day will be too.)

Thankfully no one asked what they’d bring to a desert island, which historical figure they’d want to eat dinner with or what type of tree they’d choose to be. One final question was taken, and answered at length, and then we were told, “just one or two more,” to teeth-gnashing and eye-rolls from people near me (and also from me). Well, the event was free, so no use demanding your money back.

At the end, we got two live performances: the Waters family singing Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes’ “Up Where We Belong,” with Lennear’s aid, and then Lennear singing the Beatles’ “Blackbird,” with the Waters’ backing and Quaye providing subtle accompaniment on both. Very nice. Here’s a 45-second video clip of Lennear’s song. You won’t see much — I was in the back row, 50 feet from stardom — but the sound is fine.

Following up on my March column on Claudia Lennear, Sunday’s column brings the news that 1) the movie will screen for free in Claremont, 2) she’ll attend and take questions and 3) she’ll perform. What more could you ask for?

I also have a bunch of items about the Big Boy, Deli V, Food Truck Thursdays, Metrolink and more.

Saturday is Record Store Day, with local shops offering special releases (most of them on vinyl), giveaways and a festive atmosphere. Friday’s column has more details as well as relevant links to the RSD website and release list. I also plug my Hitchcock series at Ontario’s library and present a few nuggets from Monday’s Upland council meeting that I cut from Wednesday’s column.

Two Hitchcock-related columns in one week? Only the top item this time, not a whole column like Wednesday. I’m programming the movies at the Ontario library in April and my Sunday column gives the titles and dates.

After that come a couple of literary items and three Pomona items (two of which have sat around for a few weeks, waiting for their moment in the spotlight). And I end by mentioning that I’ve been on vacation. But you blog readers knew that all week, right?

Claudia Lennear was one of the backup singers featured in the documentary “20 Feet From Stardom,” which won the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary earlier in March. Back in the day, she sang with the greats. These days she lives in Pomona and teaches at Mt. San Antonio College. We sat down for an interview about her life and career for Friday’s extra-length, Page One (!) column.

Friday’s items-filled column fills you in on local connections to “The Walking Dead,” “Marriage Boot Camp” and Bitcoin, as well as alerting you to three Culture Corner events. The column has numerous hyperlinks to other media. You could spend all day reading it, although I wouldn’t recommend it.

For its 20th anniversary concerts Saturday and Sunday, Upland-based Mountainside Master Chorale performed its 20 favorite past songs, chosen by its members. These included Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum,” the gospel standard “The Battle of Jericho” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” one of the wackiest pop songs ever.

I filmed the performance from the balcony on my phone. You can’t really see anything, but you can hear the chorale let down its hair. Watch the 45-second video here. (The lyrics, meanwhile, can be read here.) The concert was at First Christian Church in Pomona, the same arts-lovin’ congregation that hosts the Repertory Opera Company.

An exhibit at the Cooper Regional History Museum in Upland is devoted to comics and Pop art. It’s the subject of my Wednesday column.

Above, a 1966 Jughead comic on display has a commentary on Pop art, neatly tying the two threads of the exhibit together.

One thing I left out of the column was a crack about the exhibit’s name, which appears to be “Let’s Have Some Fun at the Cooper Museum Pop Art Exhibition.” Gosh, let’s. If the exhibit finds another home after its May 31 end at the Cooper, a new name should be a priority.

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About this blog

A roundup of news, history, food, travel and cultural items from around the Inland Valley.

About this blogger

A journalist for nearly 30 years, David Allen has been chronicling the Inland Valley for the Daily Bulletin since 1997 and blogging since 2007. His first book, "Pomona A to Z," was published in 2014.
E-mail David here. Read recent columns here.